283: Being good at being lost: Amity Gaige’s Heartwood
Dear friends My coaching work often integrates fiction. I do so because it allows us to see depth and nuance that non-fiction can’t. The non-fiction author can’t explore imagination or internal…
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Read More283: Being good at being lost: Amity Gaige’s Heartwood
282: The Springboks and Strategy: Eben Etzebeth’s Unlocked
Good morning friends At the end of 2025, Eben Etzebeth released his biography, Unlocked. Etzebeth is South African rugby’s most capped player. In fact, he is one of the most…
280: Are you poisoned by power?
Dear friends Our last two letters, Self-Doubt and Success, and Excellence and Leadership, went longer than usual, so this week’s letter is briefer. /strategy Last week’s letter gave us four…
276: How Rituals Build Capacity in Leadership and Life
Dear Friends In this Tim Ferriss interview about his new book – The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness – Harvard professor Arthur Brooks offers…
275: Magic Bullets. Founder’s Mindset. Fela Kuti.
Dear friends, Today is the year’s last letter. We will gather here again on 18 January 2026. It is ‘best books of 2025’ season. My favourite lists are the Financial…
271: Will Guidara. James Clear. Octavia Butler
Good morning dear friends This community loves learning, loves reading, loves books. You understand that different perspectives create richer possibilities. You’ll love this list – acclaimed Zimbabwean novelist, Tsitsi Dangarembga’s favourite…
270: Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality (Part Two)
Good morning friend This week’s letter continues our exploration of Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect. If this is your first time…
269: Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality (Part One)
Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect is the inspiration for this week’s letter. Roger Martin, co-author of Playing to Win, one of…
263: Jennifer Pahlka. Amy Edmondson. Albert Einstein
Good morning dear friends Four years ago, Jerome September, the University of the Witwatersrand’s Dean of Student Affairs, started a postgraduate reading club. This year they’ve been reading No Last…
262: Uncommon Service. Radical Imagination.
Dear Friends Before we get started, thank you to everyone who commented on my new website copy and, in particular, on the curated leadership learning journeys I’ve been piloting. There’s…
261: Creating Conditions for Uncommon Service
Dear friends My coaching practice has, as it should and all things do, evolved since I started it in September 2019. I recently rewrote my website’s copy to reflect those…
256: John Kay’s The Corporation in the 21st Century
Good morning good friends /strategyLast week’s letter introduced you to John Kay’s The Corporation in the 21st Century. It’s a sprawl of a book collecting thoughts, analysis and occasional scathing asides…